Ixcela

by David Ferry, Outside Magazine

In this in-depth article, David Ferry of Outside Magazine explores how gut-health science is revolutionizing the way athletes eat, train, and live. Scott Tindal, sailing team ORACLE Team USA’s nutritionist and physiotherapist, shares the team’s success with Ixcela’s personalized nutrition plans.

Tindal decided to take a chance and signed Team USA up for Ixcela’s supplements and a regimen of foods designed to promote microbial diversity. (“Things like kefir, which the guys had most mornings,” he says, “and sauerkraut, which all of them definitely did not.”) After nine months, he ran the numbers. “We saw a 30 percent reduc­tion in upper-respiratory incidents, a 47.5 per­cent reduction in sailing days lost, and a 54 percent reduction in full training days lost,” he says.

This article touches on many aspects of microbiome science and its many potential applications in athletics and medicine.